--- title: "Professional Gamblers Move Into Prediction Markets to Bleed You Dry" description: "Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have become juicy targets for professional gamblers, and even some financial firms." date: "2026-02-07" modified: "2026-02-07" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/professional-gamblers-prediction-markets" categories: - "Finance" - "Future Society" --- # Professional Gamblers Move Into Prediction Markets to Bleed You Dry ![A young man with curly hair and a mustache is sitting on a wooden bench outdoors, smiling broadly and raising his fist in celebration while looking at a red smartphone in his hand. A light blue bicycle is parked next to the bench, and there are green bushes and a fence in the background.]() *Getty / Futurism* Following the federal government's wide-armed embrace of the tech, professional gamblers are flooding into prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. It's not hard to see why: in January alone, trading volume on Kalshi almost hit $10 billion, $8.5 billion of which was tied to sports, according to [new reporting by *Bloomberg*](). That same month, Kalshi saw three million new downloads. The waters, in other words, are teeming with prey — and the sharks are moving in. No longer content to ply their trade on the predatory betting apps of yore — the FanDuels, DraftKings and BetMGMs of the app world — professional gamblers have discovered a lucrative new playground in the wildly unregulated land of prediction markets. "It really feels like everything's prediction markets, prediction markets, prediction markets," Rufus Peabody, a professional gambler with 15 years of experience told *Bloomberg*. "Maybe not for the average recreational bettor, but certainly in the sharp community." In gambling parlance, "sharps" are the pros: the [full-time bettors]() who win more often than they lose. And for these gamblers, prediction markets represent a whole new ecosystem of marks, like you, who have far less information and expertise to devote to making well-informed bets than they do. As *Bloomberg* notes, traditional sports books take the other side of every wager they collect. Prediction markets, however, pit bettors against each other, resembling something closer to Wall Street than to seedy betting parlors. This fundamental change in structure makes prediction markets a goldmine for intelligent, well-resourced sharps. "Sharp bettors are looking for every place they can where they have an advantage," Peabody told *Bloomberg*. "Right now there's a lot of alpha to be had on the prediction markets," he said, referring to the [betting term]() for competitive advantage. On top of small operations like the one Peabody runs, amateur gamblers are increasingly going up against actual financial firms like [Susquehanna International Group]() and [Jump Trading](), which are groups capable of betting tens of millions of dollars every week. All of this is to say: before you place that prop bet on the Super Bowl this weekend, you might want to think about who could be on the other end of the line. **More on prediction markets:** *[Polymarket CEO Known for Yelling at His Employees, Attending Meetings Shirtless]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()